Digital BW, The Print

John,


>... Ultrasmooth has no ink transfer in a bound book situation when 
>sprayed with either Premier Art, Lyson Printguard, or Lascaux. 
>Actually there is no transfer that I have seen with this paper 
>even when not sprayed.

>All the other rag media I tested did have some black ink transfer 
>over time with compressed under weight against a pure white sheet 
>sprayed and unsprayed.

>The great thing about Ultrasmooth ( Premier Art hotpress) to me 
>is durability. 

I agree.  Epson PremierArt Scrapbook paper is a related coating.  I think
durability and longevity were primary design goals.  The paper also seems to
smooth out all the dots, similar to what Photo Rag also does.  But the Photo
Rag surface is really sensitive.

>It's ... slightly less brilliant appearance in the hightlights becaue it 
>is a natural color paper without optical brighteners.
>... that might make it more permanent in the long run. 
>This is an issue that I would LOVE to know with more clarity. 
>I stumble whenever I try to explain it to clients- ...

Whether the OBAs make any difference in fade and age testing seems like an
open question and may depend on the type of brighteners used, and there are
apparently a number of different ones.  Note, however, that Epson Watercolor
Paper -- Radiant White has OBAs and does about the best in Wilhelm fade
tests.  On the other hand, while most acid free papers in dark storage tests
have a "more than" symbol (">") before the rating, Watercolor Paper has a
flat "250."  This is, of course, so long maybe it doesn't matter. But, the
other papers that lack the ">" symbol are EEM and Mate Heavyweight, clearly
not archival papers.  This observation may not, of course, have any
significance.

One reason I worry about papers with OBAs in them is that even if the paper
is archival, we know they will yellow as the OBAs burn out.  I think this
will be seen as purchasers as a sign that the paper is cheap.  If, for
example, the image was matted with a white border showing and is removed
from the matte & frame for storage after a few years of display, the
purchasers might see an outline of the matte board.  It might look like a
yellowing and deterioration of the paper that was exposed to light.  I don't
know how long it takes in typical display for this to show up, but it
clearly shows in my faded tests of, for example EEM.  

On the other hand, while UltraSmooth will not show any fading, per se, in
this same time frame, the carbon will have yellowed a bit, while it might
have actually gained density.  If the image was over-matted, this would also
be visible.  But, if there was a white border of UltraSmooth showing, there
would be no obvious "shadows" on either the image or paper of the
UltraSmooth print.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com